Status

Characteristics

Gender: Male

Height:

Weight:

Eyes:

Hair: Black

Unusual Features:

Origin

Origin: Human

Universe: Earth-616

History

Preface

Born March 19, 1848, Wyatt Earp is one of the most legendary lawmen in American history during the days of the American Frontier. He was best known for the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone Arizona, where Earp on October 26, 1881. Presumably, the history of Wyatt Earp on Earth-616 mirrors that of his real world counterpart. The purpose of this article is to cover events that have been documented or are unique to the Earth-616 universe. Certain chronological facts of Wyatt Earp on Earth-616 differ slightly to his real world counterpart.

However, some documented events could be entirely fictional, or fictional stories based on real life events like many other western heroes[1].

Early Life

Wyatt Earp was born on March 19, 1848 in Monmouth, Illinois to Nicholas and Virginia Earp, their fourth child. Nicholas was a former soldier, lawyer and farmer who took more to the latter profession. When Wyatt was two years old the family moved to Pella, Iowa where Wyatt's father could focus more on farming. His sister Virginia died prior to the birth of his youngest sister Adelia. On the eve of Adelia's birth, when Wyatt was 13, the state of South Carolina fired upon Fort Sumter an event that started off the American Civil War. Wyatt's father and older brother James soon joined the Union Army leaving Wyatt and his other brothers in charge of looking after the farm.

The following spring, Wyatt became tired of farming and sought to join the Union Army and fought in the war. Knowing that his father was a recruiter in Pella, Wyatt went to the town of Ottumwa. However his hopes of joining the army were dashed when he found that his father was recruiting there that day. Nicholas denied his son's desire to join the army and sent him home, telling him to continue looking after the farm. Wyatt's hopes for joining the army ended when his brother James returned home after being wounded in battle in late 1863. The following spring his father returned home from the war and decided to move his family to San Bernardo, California. They joined a wagon train headed west. When he turned sixteen, Wyatt was given his first rifle to by his father and was charged with defending the family and their possessions while on the wagon train. Wyatt's father became the captain of their emigrant train on May 12, 1864 and they travelled across the Missouri River into Omaha, Nebraska. It was in Omaha where Wyatt saw his first gunfight, and when relating the incident to his father, Nicholas Earp warned his son that the west was new territory that was growing fast and men made their own laws. He instilled his son with the belief that he must not disregard human rights and decency and that if he was to fight for what was right he had to fight hard and fight to win.

Eventually, the Earp family settled and Wyatt spent his time honing his shooting skills, often hunting food for the family[2].

Adult Life

One of the earliest unique appearances of Wyatt Earp on Earth-616 when he briefly operated as sheriff in Abilene. While on a two week vacation, outlaw Moose Merrill attempted to gather posse of outlaws to eliminate Earp so that he could take over the town. However, having never seen what Earp looked like, Moose was unaware that Wyatt had secretly joined up with his gang, and easily put a stop to his attack when he sprang it[3]. It is unspecified at what point in his career this took place.

By the year 1873, Wyatt Earp had made a decent living as a buffalo hunter, however by the summer of that year he decided to try to get into the cattle business. He travelled to Ellisworth, Kansas to try and get his start. There he found that the cattle business was struggling and many cowboys from Texas travelled to Kansas to sell their beef. During his time in Ellisworth he found that the cowboys frequently fought among each other and the law was less willing to deal with it. Things came to a head when Bill and Ben Thompson got into an altercation with gambler John Sterling which resulted in a stand off between the Thompsons and the local sheriff. The stand off ended when Ben Thompson shot and killed the sheriff. With the mayor demanding that the local US marshals do something, they were less than willing to go up against the two cowboys who paraded around town armed and spoiling for a fight. Wyatt decided to take matters into his own hands and took the job as a sheriff and single handedly managed to talk the Thompsons into surrendering and standing trail for their murder. However, Wyatt was disinterested in being a lawman and retired from the job the next day to continue his career as a buffalo hunter. He was back in operations by September of that year, working with "Fuzzy" Forks. His hunting of buffalo led to a brief confrontation with the local Comanche tribe, but after defeating their chief Black Eagle, he was allowed to hunt on their lands unimpeded. However, despite his good business hunting buffalo, Wyatt still desired to get into the cattle business and by winter of that year, Wyatt decided to head to Wichita, Kansas to try his luck in the cattle business in the biggest cattle town in the area. He arrived in Wichita in May of 1874, the first time in over 10 years only to find it more lawless than he ever remembered it[2].

Death

Records of Wyatt's death differ from available accounts. Wyatt died of either cystitis or prostate cancer on January 13, 1929 at the age of 80.